After the body count from the Mexican cartel wars has ramped up over the last five years, there's finally beginning to be more consistent reporting on the subject available in the US, including in the blogosphere. Here are a few sources I've begun following recently to stay abreast of the topic:
And for the Spanish speakers among you (or those who don't mind fumbling around with Google's "translate" function), here are a few notable Spanish-language sources:
Combing through the blogs this morning, I ran across a story from March I'd missed at the time: An active-duty US soldier who'd signed on as an assassin for Los Zetas was shot by an undercover agent in Laredo. His cousin, who served in Afghanistan and was discharged from the Army on March 13, was among those arrested with him. This is yet another example of the real "spillover" violence on the Texas-Mexico border: US criminals crossing the river southward to commit murders and other crimes working as soldiers for competing drug cartels (warning: graphic images). By contrast, Texas border regions are among the safest in the state, particularly compared to the state's larger cities, and despite politicized misrepresentations, have not yet seen substantial violence "spillover" northward.
Grits can't follow these topics as closely as I would like, so I'm glad the bloggers above are covering the beat. With the Calderon military strategy an abject failure and the Mexican presidential elections looming this summer (a race made more or less interesting, depending on one's perspective, by a new ban on campaign attack ads), we're possibly at a pivotal moment in this epic tragedy.
Tampilkan postingan dengan label Border Wars. Tampilkan semua postingan
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Selasa, 10 April 2012
Kamis, 01 Maret 2012
Police informant use contributes to tolerating crimes, solving them, and testing community loyalties
Via Alexandra Natapoff's Snitching blog, I ran across several items on the subject of confidential informants (aka, "snitches") that may interest Grits readers.
First, out of Boston, a TV news reporter raises a question that could be asked anywhere in the country: Whether confidential informants are gaming the system, "continuing to commit crimes while exerting too much control over government investigations." "'There is almost no crime that a criminal informant cannot work their way out of,' Natapoff told FOX Undercover. 'Terrorism. Drug dealing. Murder. Child pornography. Nothing is off-limits. And because of that we send a terrible message in our criminal justice system that every crime is negotiable.'"
On the flip side of that critique, Natapoff points to a story from the San Antonio Express News that I'd missed back in January detailing court testimony from a long-time DEA informant who worked infiltrating the Zetas organized crime gang on both sides of the river, including in Laredo and Nuevo Laredo. Natapoff notes the account is "unusual in part because of the generally secretive nature of informant use, but also more concretely because trials are infrequent and therefore informants rarely testify. On the extent to which informant/cartel members have become central to U.S. law enforcement in Mexico, see this previous post: NYT: Numerous Mexican drug informants benefit U.S. law enforcement."
Finally, Natapoff points to a law review article which aims to articulate "a different understanding" of the Stop Snitching phenomenon, "arguing that poor, black community members' refusal to cooperate with police investigations should be viewed as neither ethically condemnable nor inexplicable, but rather as a natural extension of the innate human aspiration to be loyal. It does so by situating Stop Snitching within the existing literature on loyalty and asserting that the refusal to cooperate with police represents a privileging of community loyalty over loyalty to the state. Throughout the various strata of contemporary society, such privileging of the familiar over the remote is common, and Stop Snitching is neither puzzling nor reprehensible when viewed as a manifestation of this manner of prioritization." (Grits has explored some of these same themes in the past.)
Fascinating stuff. Grits hasn't focused as much in recent years on the subject of informants, but I continue to believe, with Natapoff, that it's a lynchpin issue around which a lot of problematic police practices revolve. Informants are critical for law enforcement - particularly when investigating targets like insular Mexican drug cartels - yet at the same time they represent one of law enforcement's greatest points of vulnerability for corruption and abuse of power. If you haven't read Natapoff's book on snitching and have any interest in the subject, professional or otherwise, I couldn't recommend it and her work more highly.
First, out of Boston, a TV news reporter raises a question that could be asked anywhere in the country: Whether confidential informants are gaming the system, "continuing to commit crimes while exerting too much control over government investigations." "'There is almost no crime that a criminal informant cannot work their way out of,' Natapoff told FOX Undercover. 'Terrorism. Drug dealing. Murder. Child pornography. Nothing is off-limits. And because of that we send a terrible message in our criminal justice system that every crime is negotiable.'"
On the flip side of that critique, Natapoff points to a story from the San Antonio Express News that I'd missed back in January detailing court testimony from a long-time DEA informant who worked infiltrating the Zetas organized crime gang on both sides of the river, including in Laredo and Nuevo Laredo. Natapoff notes the account is "unusual in part because of the generally secretive nature of informant use, but also more concretely because trials are infrequent and therefore informants rarely testify. On the extent to which informant/cartel members have become central to U.S. law enforcement in Mexico, see this previous post: NYT: Numerous Mexican drug informants benefit U.S. law enforcement."
Finally, Natapoff points to a law review article which aims to articulate "a different understanding" of the Stop Snitching phenomenon, "arguing that poor, black community members' refusal to cooperate with police investigations should be viewed as neither ethically condemnable nor inexplicable, but rather as a natural extension of the innate human aspiration to be loyal. It does so by situating Stop Snitching within the existing literature on loyalty and asserting that the refusal to cooperate with police represents a privileging of community loyalty over loyalty to the state. Throughout the various strata of contemporary society, such privileging of the familiar over the remote is common, and Stop Snitching is neither puzzling nor reprehensible when viewed as a manifestation of this manner of prioritization." (Grits has explored some of these same themes in the past.)
Fascinating stuff. Grits hasn't focused as much in recent years on the subject of informants, but I continue to believe, with Natapoff, that it's a lynchpin issue around which a lot of problematic police practices revolve. Informants are critical for law enforcement - particularly when investigating targets like insular Mexican drug cartels - yet at the same time they represent one of law enforcement's greatest points of vulnerability for corruption and abuse of power. If you haven't read Natapoff's book on snitching and have any interest in the subject, professional or otherwise, I couldn't recommend it and her work more highly.
Selasa, 07 Februari 2012
Mexican presidential elections and border security
What makes the escalation of the drug war in northern Mexico so disoncerting - and also explains the impotence of the military and the federales to confront major drug cartels in that country - is that the fundamental causes of their sad situation are economic and political, not necessarily related to the success or (more often) failure of the justice system.
On the political side, high-level corruption defines this conflict in the eyes of many Mexicans I know. Under stewardship of the "PRI," which was the ruling party from the time of the revolution until 12 years ago, political favor doled out smuggling opportunities to various criminal organizations who, the theory goes, were allowed to operate in exchange for (relatively) low levels of violence. Once the PRI lost power, though, the infrastructure controlling the beast fell apart - first in Juarez and then Nuevo Laredo and beyond - corruption factionalized by region, and criminal gangs began openly competing for turf. By the time President Calderon sent the military in to take over security in northern Mexico, the government had become merely one of several competitors for political power. Think of it from a citizen's standpoint: If you want to remain safe, should you pay your taxes to the government or the criminal gang running a protection racket in your community? It's a non-trivial question.
On the economic front, NAFTA helped spawn a legitimate middle class in Mexico that didn't exist before, but it also depopulated rural areas, driving thousands of families, including many with relatively little education or skills, out of agriculture and into an urban proletariat where the country's legitimate economic base was ill-prepared to absorb them. Such desperate poverty and lack of opportunity, combined with rational personal security decisions, underlie the cost-benefit analysis of many Mexicans who side with the drug smugglers against the government (or else waffle tentatively in the middle, waiting to identify the likely victor). This story about the massive drought in northern Mexico - for which I almost feel guilty after the bout of rain we've had - makes me think the economic end of the equation may only get worse in the short term.
With military and police enforcement seemingly unable to stem the violence (it's declined in Juarez but expanded elsewhere in Mexico), and the Mexican public understandably opposed to direct US intervention, that pretty much leaves a poltiical solution as the only viable path forward for the troubled state. And that makes this summer's presidential elections in Mexico (replacing Calderon's successor for the next six years) more important for Texas' "border security," arguably, even than the US presidential race. In any event, the three-candidate field is now complete and it's a virtual guarantee any debates on "border security" will be more substantive and interesting than any we're seeing in the (endless?) GOP contest for US president, which should be refreshing in and of itself.
On the political side, high-level corruption defines this conflict in the eyes of many Mexicans I know. Under stewardship of the "PRI," which was the ruling party from the time of the revolution until 12 years ago, political favor doled out smuggling opportunities to various criminal organizations who, the theory goes, were allowed to operate in exchange for (relatively) low levels of violence. Once the PRI lost power, though, the infrastructure controlling the beast fell apart - first in Juarez and then Nuevo Laredo and beyond - corruption factionalized by region, and criminal gangs began openly competing for turf. By the time President Calderon sent the military in to take over security in northern Mexico, the government had become merely one of several competitors for political power. Think of it from a citizen's standpoint: If you want to remain safe, should you pay your taxes to the government or the criminal gang running a protection racket in your community? It's a non-trivial question.
On the economic front, NAFTA helped spawn a legitimate middle class in Mexico that didn't exist before, but it also depopulated rural areas, driving thousands of families, including many with relatively little education or skills, out of agriculture and into an urban proletariat where the country's legitimate economic base was ill-prepared to absorb them. Such desperate poverty and lack of opportunity, combined with rational personal security decisions, underlie the cost-benefit analysis of many Mexicans who side with the drug smugglers against the government (or else waffle tentatively in the middle, waiting to identify the likely victor). This story about the massive drought in northern Mexico - for which I almost feel guilty after the bout of rain we've had - makes me think the economic end of the equation may only get worse in the short term.
With military and police enforcement seemingly unable to stem the violence (it's declined in Juarez but expanded elsewhere in Mexico), and the Mexican public understandably opposed to direct US intervention, that pretty much leaves a poltiical solution as the only viable path forward for the troubled state. And that makes this summer's presidential elections in Mexico (replacing Calderon's successor for the next six years) more important for Texas' "border security," arguably, even than the US presidential race. In any event, the three-candidate field is now complete and it's a virtual guarantee any debates on "border security" will be more substantive and interesting than any we're seeing in the (endless?) GOP contest for US president, which should be refreshing in and of itself.
Selasa, 03 Januari 2012
Poor Mexico: Reports from the cartel wars
A number of stories related to Mexican drug cartels and their relationship with US-side prison gangs, as well as other articles about US-side cartel infrastructure and organized crime in Mexico and Latin America, caught my attention over the holidays and may interest Grits readers:
- Houston Chronicle: Cartels cooperate with prison gangs
- Austin Statesman: Authorities work long hours to stamp out Mexican mafia
- Brownsville Herald: Prison gangs enforce brutal reign
- SA Express News: Prosecutors like RICO
- Huffington Post: Mexican drug cartels recruit young latinos in Southern California
- Catholic Online: Mexican drug cartels recruiting American teens
- Gant News Service: DEA: Mexican drug cartel extortion moving more into US
- McAllen Monitor: Gulf cartel lieutenant linked to various incidents on US side
- AP: Mexican cartels build own national radio system
- Wired: Radio Zeta: How Mexican drug cartels stay connected
- Global Post: Mexico police tortured suspects in Ciudad Juarez, human rights body says
- El Paso Times: Juarez forensic team a work in progress
- Honduras Weekly: Holding the United States accountable
Minggu, 27 November 2011
Roundup: Lightning strikes, news flashes, and principle ducks for cover
A few odds and ends for your holiday reading pleasure:
When lightning strikes
Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley told the Dallas News that the Michael Morton DNA test results hit him like a "lightning bolt." Though they didn't invoke the road to Damascus, they did say the Williamson County DA now "testifies to a conversion." Declaring, “We need to leave the window open a little bit more,” Bradley says he hopes speaking up will influence how other prosecutors approach post-conviction DNA cases: “I finally decided that it was more important that I overcome my concerns about people’s opinions about my shifting of my personal opinions, because I saw that it has public value in helping other prosecutors, I hope, adjust their point of view.” Abel Reyna, are you listening?
Police, distracted driving and civil liability
Austin PD accounts for the largest proportion of payouts in civil suits of any city-owned department in the capital, including the electric utility and the airport. Chief Art Acevedo blamed distracted driving on a significant number of settlements related to automobile accidents involving police officers: “They're in the patrol car environment where there is a lot of things going on. You've got the computer going on, you've got the radio going on. They're looking where they're at. They're looking for violations, they're looking for risks.”
Spillover violence documented in Valley
Law enforcement reports the first, documented example of "spillover" cartel violence in the Rio Grande Valley, if you don't count gang members from the Texas side spilling over to commit violence in Mexico. This event is an important marker, but still a far cry from the absurdist, politicized claims made recently on behalf of Texas DPS and the Ag Department.
Drug violence in Puerto Rico
Lots of interesting detail in this story about which I wasn't aware; you never hear PR violence discussed in any of the "spillover" discussions.
News flash: Prison-industrial complex exists
Conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg offers a "small apology" to his ideological foes, admitting to the existence of "a prison-industrial complex" he'd "long thought" didn't exist. He sees it as dominated by public-employees unions rather than private-prison companies and other such corporate-welfare recipients. For my part, I consider both special interests to be partially culpable for the situation, and many other elements besides. These are not mutually exclusive factors.
MSM scorns principle in criminal-justice debates
A frequent theme on this blog is that, despite how they're framed in the mainstream media, criminal-justice issues seldom fall along partisan nor strictly ideological lines. Nowhere can that be seen more clearly than in the LA Times headline, "Criminal defendants find an unlikely friend in Justice Scalia." The story by David Savage is fairly typical of modern MSM criminal-justice coverage, demonstrating many of its shortcomings all in one place. Notice how, for example, a judgment in favor of the defense (e.g., on Confrontation Clause issues) makes US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia a "friend" to criminals. All nuance is lost: You're either for criminals or against them, though bizarrely the headline complains of Scalia, "For him, there are no shades of gray." That's the pot calling the kettle black, indeed. The newspaper quotes a law professor explaining, "This is not a left-right split. This is principle versus pragmatism" (though Grits would argue that some of Scalia's most controversial assertions on criminal justice have been profoundly pragmatic). But the issue is presented as though judges basing decisions on principle - as opposed to the convenience of government bureaucrats or the structural biases of the press - is somehow a bad thing. Perhaps, in light of the string of modern DNA exonerations and the lessons learned by John Bradley mentioned above in the top item, 21st-century journalists shouldn't be so quick to dismiss every effort to instill fairness or adhere to principle in the justice system as somehow coddling criminals? Just a thought.
When lightning strikes
Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley told the Dallas News that the Michael Morton DNA test results hit him like a "lightning bolt." Though they didn't invoke the road to Damascus, they did say the Williamson County DA now "testifies to a conversion." Declaring, “We need to leave the window open a little bit more,” Bradley says he hopes speaking up will influence how other prosecutors approach post-conviction DNA cases: “I finally decided that it was more important that I overcome my concerns about people’s opinions about my shifting of my personal opinions, because I saw that it has public value in helping other prosecutors, I hope, adjust their point of view.” Abel Reyna, are you listening?
Police, distracted driving and civil liability
Austin PD accounts for the largest proportion of payouts in civil suits of any city-owned department in the capital, including the electric utility and the airport. Chief Art Acevedo blamed distracted driving on a significant number of settlements related to automobile accidents involving police officers: “They're in the patrol car environment where there is a lot of things going on. You've got the computer going on, you've got the radio going on. They're looking where they're at. They're looking for violations, they're looking for risks.”
Spillover violence documented in Valley
Law enforcement reports the first, documented example of "spillover" cartel violence in the Rio Grande Valley, if you don't count gang members from the Texas side spilling over to commit violence in Mexico. This event is an important marker, but still a far cry from the absurdist, politicized claims made recently on behalf of Texas DPS and the Ag Department.
Drug violence in Puerto Rico
Lots of interesting detail in this story about which I wasn't aware; you never hear PR violence discussed in any of the "spillover" discussions.
News flash: Prison-industrial complex exists
Conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg offers a "small apology" to his ideological foes, admitting to the existence of "a prison-industrial complex" he'd "long thought" didn't exist. He sees it as dominated by public-employees unions rather than private-prison companies and other such corporate-welfare recipients. For my part, I consider both special interests to be partially culpable for the situation, and many other elements besides. These are not mutually exclusive factors.
MSM scorns principle in criminal-justice debates
A frequent theme on this blog is that, despite how they're framed in the mainstream media, criminal-justice issues seldom fall along partisan nor strictly ideological lines. Nowhere can that be seen more clearly than in the LA Times headline, "Criminal defendants find an unlikely friend in Justice Scalia." The story by David Savage is fairly typical of modern MSM criminal-justice coverage, demonstrating many of its shortcomings all in one place. Notice how, for example, a judgment in favor of the defense (e.g., on Confrontation Clause issues) makes US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia a "friend" to criminals. All nuance is lost: You're either for criminals or against them, though bizarrely the headline complains of Scalia, "For him, there are no shades of gray." That's the pot calling the kettle black, indeed. The newspaper quotes a law professor explaining, "This is not a left-right split. This is principle versus pragmatism" (though Grits would argue that some of Scalia's most controversial assertions on criminal justice have been profoundly pragmatic). But the issue is presented as though judges basing decisions on principle - as opposed to the convenience of government bureaucrats or the structural biases of the press - is somehow a bad thing. Perhaps, in light of the string of modern DNA exonerations and the lessons learned by John Bradley mentioned above in the top item, 21st-century journalists shouldn't be so quick to dismiss every effort to instill fairness or adhere to principle in the justice system as somehow coddling criminals? Just a thought.
Senin, 14 November 2011
Anatomy of a sweet smelling cartel money laundering front
Earlier this year, Grits argued in a post both lauded and criticized that money laundering of drug profits artificially boosted Texas' economy by propping up seemingly legitimate front businesses, contributing to the so-called Texas economic "miracle." The Texas Tribune's Julian Aguilar has an excellent feature describing one such company - a Laredo-based perfumeria, of all things - exemplifying that dynamic.
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| Photo by the Texas Tribune's Jennifer Whitney |
Senin, 03 Oktober 2011
Lies, damn lies and border security rhetoric: New study aims to fabricate fear
In order to justify massive amounts of border security pork and to bolster the Governor's anti-immigration bona fides, since 2006 the Governor and his former homeland security director Steve McCraw, who now leads the Department of Public Safety, have consistently overstated the amount of crime in border counties, raising the spurious specter of "spillover" violence from the cartel wars in Mexico onto the US side of the river.
In reality, any close observer of border realities knows that the real "spillover" of violence along the border is in the other direction, with Texas-based prison gangs like Barrio Azteca serving as soldiers and assassins for feuding drug cartels. In rare moments of candor, DPS officials have told the Legislature that in many cases "command and control" of cartel activity has shifted to the US side, with cartel leaders themselves seeking safety from the chaotic and violent environments south of the Rio Grande.
So I wasn't surprised to see that DPS and (for some reason) the Texas Ag Department teamed up to hire two big-name ex-generals, including former Clinton-era "Drug Czar" Barry McCaffrey, to perform an anecdote-driven security study (pdf) released last week which contradicts all available data about crime on the US side of the border to falsely claim that violence on the American side poses as great a threat as in Mexican border towns. Reported the Austin Statesman ("Report cites anecdotes to claim spillover violence," Sept. 27), despite claims by the generals that South Texas has become a war zone:
Anyone familiar with McCaffrey's record as Drug Czar won't be surprised by such fabrications. Indeed, as Drug Czar he was literally statutorily obligated to mislead the public about the drug war. Apparently old habits die hard.
In reality, any close observer of border realities knows that the real "spillover" of violence along the border is in the other direction, with Texas-based prison gangs like Barrio Azteca serving as soldiers and assassins for feuding drug cartels. In rare moments of candor, DPS officials have told the Legislature that in many cases "command and control" of cartel activity has shifted to the US side, with cartel leaders themselves seeking safety from the chaotic and violent environments south of the Rio Grande.
So I wasn't surprised to see that DPS and (for some reason) the Texas Ag Department teamed up to hire two big-name ex-generals, including former Clinton-era "Drug Czar" Barry McCaffrey, to perform an anecdote-driven security study (pdf) released last week which contradicts all available data about crime on the US side of the border to falsely claim that violence on the American side poses as great a threat as in Mexican border towns. Reported the Austin Statesman ("Report cites anecdotes to claim spillover violence," Sept. 27), despite claims by the generals that South Texas has become a war zone:
Federal crime statistics from cities and counties along the Southwest border have not shown spikes in violence, and last year the Congressional Research Service found that FBI statistics do not indicate whether there has been spillover from the violence raging in Mexico. Officials along the border have presented differing accounts of drug cartel-related violence.Indeed, the sourcing for the most serious allegations in the report turns out to be unbelievably sketchy:
During a news conference after the report was released, McCaffrey raised eyebrows when he spoke of "hundreds of people murdered on our side of the frontier," a statistic that far exceeded the 22 killings between January 2010 and May 2011 identified by the Department of Public Safety as being related to drug cartels. When asked about the number, McCaffrey pointed to statements from a Brooks County rancher, who told reporters that hundreds of bodies had been found in the county in recent years.So the bulk of US side deaths McCaffrey attributes to drug cartels a) stem from failed attempts at illegal immigration, not the drug war, and b) weren't actually murders according to law enforcement. Such obfuscations are regrettable if not surprising, as border security issues have become highly politicized. The Statesman reported:
Most of the bodies were those of illegal immigrants crossing the brush trying to avoid the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in Falfurrias and not victims of direct assaults, according to the Brooks County sheriff's department.
The issue of spillover violence has increasingly pitted Republican lawmakers and leaders, including Gov. Rick Perry, against President Barack Obama's administration.But since law enforcement sources support President Obama's interpretation of what's happening on the border instead of Rick Perry's, McCaffrey and Co. relied on anonymous sources that blatantly contradict the law-enforcement interests who've received tens of millions in border-security grants from the governor. Apparently those folks are credible when it comes to doling out pork, but are all fibbing when they report the number of murders in their jurisdictions. How much sense does that make?
"Our pleas for help are being met with denial and lame jokes," Texas Agriculture Secretary Todd Staples said Monday. "The threat grows more violent every day, and more resources are needed."
In May, Obama traveled to El Paso and declared the border more secure than ever, accusing Republicans of using the issue of border security to delay discussion of immigration reform.
"Maybe they'll say we need a moat," Obama said at the time. "Or alligators in the moat. They'll never be satisfied."
Earlier this month, Perry blasted Obama during a presidential debate as either having poor "intel" or being an "abject liar."
Anyone familiar with McCaffrey's record as Drug Czar won't be surprised by such fabrications. Indeed, as Drug Czar he was literally statutorily obligated to mislead the public about the drug war. Apparently old habits die hard.
Minggu, 18 September 2011
Surprise to no one: Drug smuggling increased after border wall built
Drug smuggling in the Rio Grande Valley increased after the much-touted border wall went up in the area, a Sheriff's lieutenant told a community meeting yesterday. Reported the McAllen Monitor ("Impact of border wall discussed at meeting," Sept. 18):
This was never more than symbolism, and even Governor Rick Perry can see a border wall adds little to border security. But state Rep. Rene Oliveira told the audience, “The wall is here whether we like it or not ... I don’t think anybody is going to tear it down. The political will is clearly nonexistent for that.” For my part, I wouldn't be so pessimistic. There were many years when one could easily say there was "no political will" to bring down the Berlin Wall, but eventually the wall fell. Who knows, maybe if Rick Perry is elected president, he'll go to Congress and demand, echoing Ronald Reagan, that they "tear down this wall."
Drug trafficking from Mexico into Cameron County has increased, not decreased, since the border fence was built, a sheriff’s lieutenant said Saturday at a public meeting.
It was one of many points discussed at the “Border Wall Impact” meeting hosted by State Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. at the Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course. The event brought together legislators, city representatives, state and county law enforcement and private citizens to air concerns about the fence.This outcome was as predictable as the sunrise. Law enforcement has known for years that most drug trafficking happens at the legal checkpoints, not in between them. Even in between the checkpoints, the wall can be easily defeated with tactics ranging from flying ultralight aircraft to drop drugs on the other side to flinging drugs with large catapults to waiting accomplices on the US side. Anyway, show me a 20 foot wall and I'll show you a 21 foot ladder.“Is the fence keeping drugs from coming in? No,” Lieutenant Rick Perez said responding to a question. “We have more drugs now than before.”Perez is part of the special investigations unit of the Cameron County Sheriff’s Department.
This was never more than symbolism, and even Governor Rick Perry can see a border wall adds little to border security. But state Rep. Rene Oliveira told the audience, “The wall is here whether we like it or not ... I don’t think anybody is going to tear it down. The political will is clearly nonexistent for that.” For my part, I wouldn't be so pessimistic. There were many years when one could easily say there was "no political will" to bring down the Berlin Wall, but eventually the wall fell. Who knows, maybe if Rick Perry is elected president, he'll go to Congress and demand, echoing Ronald Reagan, that they "tear down this wall."
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